Thank you for sharing the photos of the banding, absolutely love the names!  

ps: Those photos of Quest are just stunning, she is one fierce mama!

How wonderful to read this news and know that Unity's spirit will live on in her sister.  I miss having my morning coffee with her, she was a beautiful falcon and a fierce and loyal mate. 

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So sorry Donna, Cali was a beauty 

Did you see her pecking the baby? She was pulling it up with her beak! Then she just shoved it over. Must be her first time. Wow.

Some of the first time moms can be a bit rough, hopefully she catches on quick. 

It doesn't matter how many times I see eggs hatching, I always get excited  

Mom is helping baby out of the egg!!!    She laid back down but I saw half a baby...oh she's up again..there it is..still half in shell. 

I wondered actually if she might have learned a lesson from the Unity/Archer situation from last year and how it ended with her being hurt.  I know they don't feel emotion per say, not the way we do,  however I do believe they learn and adapt to threats.  Perhaps she knows she needs to be more vigilant with other falcons outside the territory now, especially one her mate is involved with.   

you are probably right. Specially how this pairing started out or almost didn't start out. I have a feeling that Pigott is his first choice and she is just not mature enough yet. She will probably make a move on down town when she is ready and who DC will side with if either we have no idea. We are not out of the woods yet we are probably in for a bumpy ride next season.

And if Archer decides to return, well..........

I say enjoy every day you have with them and try not to worry about tomorrow, easier said than done I know, but it's nothing we can control - I learned that with Angel this year.  I used to worry about it all the time with her being alone so much and then when it happened I didn't even know...    

I hope for some cute little bobble heads in a few weeks and seeing Beauty with babies again and DC as a first time dad.  

These guys got a late start this year as they are a brand new pair.  The female Dot from last year is fine though, she's been discovered nesting elsewhere this year so whew and not sure on the male as he was unbanded so he may or may not be with Dot.

One egg, possibly two pipped this morning so hatching expected any time now.  From the site:

A little about the adult falcons:

This is a new pair to our nesting box. The male falcon’s name is Sawatzke. He was banded at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant near Monticello, Minn. in 2009. The female falcon is unbanded

http://www.greatriverenergy.com/aboutus/environmental/birdcam.html

Mariah?? 

That's where she was last seen...

I thought so but wasn't sure my memory was so good.  Oh wouldn't that be wonderful 

Mariah?? 

 I wondered actually if she might have learned a lesson from the Unity/Archer situation from last year and how it ended with her being hurt.  I know they don't feel emotion per say, not the way we do,  however I do believe they learn and adapt to threats.  Perhaps she knows she needs to be more vigilant with other falcons outside the territory now, especially one her mate is involved with.   

She just flew in, see her?? 

Whew 

Of course she got it right!  Are you kidding me?  Is there just one family of falcons and they are ALL related?     It just gets more amazing every year!  Disney had it right..."...it's a small world after all...".

As per Kate over at Beauty's birthplace:

Peregrine falcons choose mates from a relatively small gene pool.  They were extinct east of the Mississippi only 35 years ago and have rebounded thanks to a captive breeding program begun in 1974 from the few remaining available adults. I don’t know how many pairs were bred at that time but I’ve heard it was about 20.

If you go back through Beauty and Unity's family tree, they go back to Aurora and Bandit.   Aurora was a Canadian bred bird and part of the hack/release program here to repopulate the pefa's.  Millie (Mariah & Kaver's grand daughter) paired up with Bandit and Aurora's grandson Swifty!  

Windwhistler and Marco's mom Alberta was also part of the release program, bred at Wainwright, Alberta and fostered in Hamilton as part of the breeding program.  Windwhistler's second mate (when he was two timing) was Wind - who is also descended from Bandit and Aurora.

Madame X' can also be traced back to US falconer's bird. I'm not sure how many pairs were used in Canada as part of the North American release program but records say that by 1970 there were only 90 Anatum peregrine falcons left in Canada.

 

I saw the photo of the peregrine falcon chicks at the Cathedral of Learning (May 24). As an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh, I am disgusted by Pitt's inappropriate encouragement of falcon breeding.

Falcons are vicious creatures that kill for a living. Because of them, squirrels are no longer seen outside the main library in Oakland or about the Pitt campus. Those falcons are also responsible for killing native songbirds. I much prefer robins, wrens, bluejays and cardinals to falcons, which will also eat puppies and kittens.

Predatory birds have no proper place in urban areas, and institutions of higher learning do not have a legitimate concern with encouraging their breeding.

JOSEPH FORBES
South Side

What a whack-a-doo! Squirrels?  Puppies & kittens? 

Whack-a-doo is right, we shouldn't encourage breeding of stupid people either is what I'd say to him.

You got it just right Carol...